Systems and methods for TV navigation with compressed voice-activated commands

ABSTRACT

A method, apparatus and system that receives speech commands at a remote control device microphone, digitizes those input speech commands, compresses the digitized speech commands, multiplexes control commands with the compressed digitized speech commands, and transmits the compressed digitized speech commands to an electronic device, such as a digital home communication terminal (DCHT). The electronic device decompresses and interprets the speech commands to allow the remote control operator to control the electronic device. Because speech recognition is performed at the electronic device, rather than at the remote control device, the remote control does not have to interpret and transmit infrared signals that represent user commands. This simplifies the processing and voice recognition capabilities required by the remote control. Additionally, because the electronic device processes the digitized voice received from the remote control device, the electronic device can negate the effect of sounds, such as television audio, likely captured by the microphone on the remote control device. This results in a great capability of the electronic device to interpret user commands.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of prior application U.S. Ser. No.10/010,497, filed Dec. 3, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,889,191 which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates in general to the field of electronics, and moreparticularly, to speech recognition activated controls for electronicssuch as home communication terminals.

BACKGROUND

Historically, television services have been comprised of analogbroadcast audio and video signals. Cable television systems now receivebroadcasts and retransmit them with other programming to users overland-line networks, typically comprising fiber optic cable And/orcoaxial cable. With the recent advent of digital transmissiontechnology, cable television systems are now capable of providing muchmore than the traditional analog broadcast video. For instance, two-wayand advanced one-way communications between a subscriber and a cablesystem headend are now possible.

In implementing enhanced programming, the home communication terminal(“HCT”), otherwise known as the set top box, has become an importantcomputing device for accessing video services and navigating asubscriber through a maze of available services. In addition tosupporting traditional analog broadcast video functionality, digitalHCTs (or “DHCTs”) now also support an increasing number of serviceswhich employ digital two-way communications, such as video-on-demand,email and web-browsing. These are all in addition to the host of othertelevision services which are increasingly being demanded by consumers,examples of which include audio and audio/visual programming, advancednavigation controls, impulse pay-per-view technology, and on-linecommerce.

With the addition of interactive services and the increased bandwidthand the emergence of bi-directional communication capabilities availablethrough a digital television system, there is a need to providesubscribers new methods of controlling DHCT capabilities and accessingthe channels and/or services with relative ease. Currently, controllingthe DHCT to access these services requires familiarization and use ofinput devices such as an infrared wireless remote control or a wired orwireless keyboard. Conventional remote control systems for audio andvideo equipment normally comprise a battery-powered, hand-held,transmitter which encodes and transmits selected keyboard informationand generates the necessary control signals for operating the selectedfunctions of the user's equipment. Most such systems employ atransmission system operable in the infrared region of the spectrum fortransmitting the control data. Such a device allows one to operate theequipment from a distance, without connecting wires. The drawback withsuch communication equipment is that subscribers need to familiarizethemselves with increasingly complicated remote control devices tocontrol and select the myriad of services and programming available.Furthermore, as operators of cable television systems continue to addservices and applications, problems also exist in both making thesubscriber aware of and also in providing quick access to the newservices and channels.

Voice activated remote controls for controlling televisions, videocassette recorders, stereo equipment, and cable and satellite receiversare well known. There, voice activated remotes typically recognize alimited number of voice commands from a limited number of users. Usingthe voice activated remote, users can select a hands free or manualoperation mode. The device performs speech recognition and associatedDSP processing in the remote control device, and transmits signalsrepresenting the function to the device to which it controls. However, adrawback with such a device is that it is limited in the number ofcommands that may be processed, and by the number of users that can usethe device.

In one embodiment, transport stream output by multiplexer 910 mayundergo adaptation to a network layer such internet protocol (IP) at theDSP 904 or multiplexer 910 prior to error correction and modulation 912wherein the error correction and modulation 912 is performed to fulfillthe physical layer in part. Furthermore, packets output by network layeradaptation may further undergo adaptation to a link layer, such asEthernet, for framing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a method, apparatus and system for receivingspeech commands at a remote control device, digitizing those speechcommands, and transmitting the digitized speech commands to a DCHT, atwhich the speech commands may be interpreted so as to allow the remotecontrol user to control the DHCT. Because speech recognition isperformed at the DHCT, rather than at the remote control device, theremote control device does not have to interpret and transmit infraredsignals that represent user commands. This simplifies the processing andvoice recognition capabilities required by the remote control device.Additionally, because the DHCT processes the digitized voice receivedfrom the remote control device, the DHCT can negate the effect ofsounds, such as television sounds, produced by the DHCT and captured bythe microphone on the remote control device. This results in a greatercapability of the DHCT to interpret user commands.

According to one embodiment of the present invention there is discloseda method of using voice activated commands to instruct electronicequipment to perform one or more functions. The method includesreceiving at a remote control device speech representing a user command,digitizing the speech at the remote control device, and compressing thedigitized speech. The method further includes transmitting thecompressed digitized speech wirelessly to the electronic equipment,receiving the compressed digitized speech at the electronic equipment,decompressing the digitized speech, and performing at the electronicequipment a function based upon a stored instruction associated with thedigitized speech.

According to one aspect of the present invention, receiving at a remotecontrol device speech representing a user command includes receiving ata remote control device user instructions and unwanted ambient audio.According to another aspect of the present invention, transmitting thecompressed digitized speech wirelessly includes transmitting thecompressed digitized speech over a wireless data channel or a wirelessmedia channel. Additionally, transmitting the compressed digitized caninclude transmitting the digitized speech via a transmission antenna,and receiving the compressed digitized speech comprises receiving thecompressed digitized speech via a receiver antenna.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the method furtherincludes the step of comparing at least a portion of the decompresseddigitized speech to a dictionary of speech segments, where thedictionary of speech segments are pre-programmed by a user. The methodcan also include the step of subtracting the unwanted ambient audio fromthe decompressed digitized speech. The step of subtracting the unwantedambient audio from the decompressed digitized speech can also occurbefore the at least a portion of the digitized speech is compared to thedictionary of speech segments. According to one aspect of the invention,the unwanted ambient audio is generated by the electronic equipment, andmay be emitted by a speaker associated with a television set.

According to yet another embodiment of the present invention the methodfurther includes the step of storing the unwanted ambient audio in theelectronic equipment. Additionally, the method may also include the stepof storing a time-shifted version of the unwanted ambient audio in theelectronic equipment. Moreover, according to the present invention, thetime-shifted version of the unwanted ambient audio can be matched withthe unwanted ambient audio generated by the electronic equipment, andthe unwanted ambient audio may be subtracted the unwanted ambient audiofrom the decompressed digitized speech.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, the methodfurther includes the step of identifying a dictionary speech segmentassociated with at least a portion of the decompressed digitized speech.Furthermore, the method may include the step of graphically displayingor audibly identifying the function associated with at least onedictionary speech segment. According to another aspect of the invention,comparing at least a portion of the decompressed digitized speech to adictionary of speech segments further includes producing a matchingscore representing the likelihood of a match between the at least oneportion of the decompressed digitized speech and at least one speechsegment in the dictionary of speech segments.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, the electronicequipment is a digital home communication terminal, such as a cabletelevision digital home communication terminal or a satellite digitalhome communication terminal. According to one aspect of the invention,the compressed digitized speech controls an electronic program guidenavigation of the electronic equipment, which is associated with atelevision and the electronic program guide navigation is presentable onthe television. The decompressed digital speech can also control anelectronic program guide navigation of the electronic equipment.Additionally, the method can include the step of querying a user forsaid speech representing a user command.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there isdisclosed a remote control apparatus that receives voice activatedcommands. The remote control apparatus of the present invention includesa first microphone and an enable microphone button, wherein the at leastone enable microphone button activates the first microphone such thatthe first microphone can receive one or more inputs. The remote controlapparatus additionally includes at least one processor for digitizinginputs received at the first microphone, and at least one transmitterfor wirelessly transmitting the digitized inputs to a device associatedwith the remote control apparatus.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the one or more inputscomprise voice commands. According to another aspect of the invention,the remote control apparatus also includes a plurality of function keys.Additionally, the one or more inputs include the pressing of at least ofthe plurality of function keys in combination with one or more voicecommands. Furthermore, according to one aspect of the present invention,at least one function key of the plurality of function keys is selectedfrom the group consisting of a toggle switch, a button, and aspring-force level switch.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, the remotecontrol apparatus further includes at least one standby command thatidentifies when the at least one enable microphone button is enabled.The remote control apparatus can also include a digital signal filter,such as a band pass filter, which it operative to reduce ambient noisereceived by the first microphone. Additionally, according to one aspectof the present invention the at least one processor of the remotecontrol apparatus is operative to digitize one or more inputs receivedby the second microphone. According to yet another aspect of theinvention, the remote control apparatus further includes a secondmicrophone, where the second microphone is operative to assist incanceling noise received by the first microphone. Moreover the remotecontrol apparatus can further include at least one speech encoder thatencodes speech received at the first microphone when the speech is belowa threshold value determined by the at least one processor.

According to yet another embodiment of the present invention, there isdisclosed a home communication terminal that receives voice activatedcommands and, based upon the voice activated commands, instructselectronic equipment to perform one or more functions. The homecommunication terminal includes a receiver, which receives encodeddigitized signals from at least one remote device, where the encodeddigitized signals include one or more signals representing at least onevoice activated command. The home communication terminal also includesat least one speech decoder, which decodes the encoded digitizedsignals, at least one memory, which stores at least a portion of thedecoded digitized signals, and at least one audio buffer, for storingaudio signals broadcasted by a device in electrical communication withthe receiver. Additionally, the home communication terminal of thepresent invention includes at least one processor, for eliminatingstored audio signals from the decoded digitized signals, such that theresulting decoded digitized signals do not contain audio signalsbroadcasted by the device in electrical communication with the receiver,and at least one comparison component, where the at least one comparisoncomponent matches at least a portion of the resulting decoded digitalsignals to one or more commands representing at least one function thehome communication terminal is operative to perform.

According to one aspect of the present invention the encoded digitizedsignals received by the home communication terminal include unwantedsignals. According to another aspect of the present invention the homecommunication terminal further includes at least one digital signalfilter operative to reduce the unwanted signals in the decoded digitizedsignals. According to yet another aspect of the invention the homecommunication terminal of the present invention further includes aninfrared receiver that receives infrared commands transmitted from theat least one remote device. Additionally, the home communicationterminal may also be associated with an Internet Protocol address.

According to a further aspect of the present invention the homecommunication terminal includes an electronic program guide applicationcontrollable by the at least one remote device via the at least onevoice activated command. The at least one memory can include adictionary of terms, wherein each term is associated with the one ormore commands representing the at least on function the homecommunication terminal is operative to perform. According to a furtheraspect of the invention, the home communication terminal includes atraining procedure application, where the dictionary of terms isconstructed during a training procedure effected by the processor inconjunction with a training procedure application. Additionally, eachterm in the dictionary of terms may be associated with one or morecommands representing a navigation task the home communication terminalis operative to perform.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, the trainingprocedure application averages multiple versions of user-generated voicecommands input during the training procedure. The training procedureapplication also calculates the time delay between audio signalsbroadcasted by a device in electrical communication with the receiverand at least some of the unwanted signals. The home communicationterminal can also include a graphical user interface application thatoperates in conjunction with the processor to display the one or morecommands representing at least one function the home communicationterminal is operative to perform.

According to another embodiment of the invention the home communicationterminal includes a timer that is operative to time-match the audiosignals generated by the device in electrical communication with thereceiver with the encoded digitized signals received by the receiver.The home communication terminal may also include at least one microphonefor receiving audio signals.

Many objects, features and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art upon examination ofthe following drawings and detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Having thus described the invention in general terms, reference will nowbe made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn toscale, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a high-level block diagram view of a Digital BroadbandDelivery System in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 illustrates the transmission channels supported by a DBDS inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram that illustrates select components of adigital home communication terminal in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 4 is another block diagram that depicts select components of adigital home communication terminal in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a remote control device in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the digitization, encoding and transmissionof speech received at the input device, according to one embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the reception and decoding of speech at theDHCT, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of components comprising an audio loop thateliminate undesirable sound from the speech decoded at the DHCT,according to one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodimentsof the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied inmany different forms and should not be construed as limited to theembodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided sothat this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fullyconvey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Likenumbers refer to like elements throughout.

The speech recognition control apparatuses, methods and systems of thepresent invention are described herein with reference to a digital homecommunication terminal used to receive services provided from a digitalbroadband system. However, it should be appreciated by those of skill inthe art that the apparatuses, methods and systems of the presentinvention may be used to in a variety of systems and components. Forinstance, the present invention may be used to control computers,televisions, satellite receivers, stereo equipment, remote controldevices, and any other devices employing wired or wireless means ofinput, such as a remote control, mouse, or keyboard. Therefore, thedescription of the digital broadband delivery system and digital homecommunication terminal is intended to be an illustrative andnon-limiting embodiment. First, a digital broadband delivery system(DBDS), DBDS transmission channels, and DHCT are described in detailwith reference to FIGS. 1-4. Thereafter a remote control device and DHCTmethods and components of the present invention are described in detailwith reference to FIGS. 5-8.

I. Digital Broadband Delivery System

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram view of a Digital Broadband Delivery System(DBDS) 10, including a Digital Home Communication Terminal (DHCT) 14 ofthe present invention. Generally, the DBDS 10 is a high quality,reliable and integrated network system that features video, audio, voiceand data services to Cable TV subscribers. Although FIG. 1 depicts ahigh level view of a DBDS 10 including a regional HFC Access Network 38,as will be described below, it should be appreciated that a plurality ofDBDSs can tie together a plurality of regional networks into anintegrated global network so that Cable TV subscribers can receivecontent provided from anywhere in the world. The DBDS 10 deliversbroadcast video signals as digitally formatted signals in addition todelivering traditional broadcast analog video signals. Furthermore, thesystem can support one-way broadcast services as well as both one-waydata services and two-way media and data services. The two-way operationof the network allows for user interactivity with services, such asPay-Per-View programming, Near Video-On-Demand (NVOD) programming(according to any of several known NVOD implementation methods),Video-on-Demand (VOD) programming (according to any of several known VODimplementation methods), and interactive applications, such as Internetconnections and interactive services that render real-timebi-directional and multipoint communication on a personalized basis suchas bi-directional audio-visual communication and video conferencing.

The DBDS 10 also provides the interfaces, network control, transportcontrol, session control, and servers to establish on-demandsession-based bi-directional communication service between a particularremote destination and a DHCT user for delivering media from theparticular remote destination to the DHCT user and input informationfrom the DHCT user to the particular remote destination. A remotedestination during a session of a bi-directional communication servicemay comprise a remote personal destination such as a friend or a remotevendor that offers a bi-directional communication service for apurchasable period of time in which a viewer communicates real-time withthe vendor on a personal basis. In either case, dedicated DBDS 10resources are allocated to fulfill individualized bi-directionalcommunication over a purchasable period.

As shown in FIG. 1, a typical DBDS 10 is composed of interfaces toContent Providers 18, Network Operations Centers (NOC) 22, core networks30 of headends 26, hubs 34, Hybrid Fiber/Coax (HFC) Access Networks 38,and subscribers' DHCTs 14. It should be appreciated that although singlecomponents (e.g., headend 26, core network 30, HFC Access network 38,etc.) are illustrated in FIG. 1, a DBDS 10 can feature a plurality ofeach of the illustrated components.

The Content Provider 18 represents one or more providers of content,such as video channels, music channels, data channels, video services,audio services and data services. For example, according to one aspectof the invention, the Content Provider 18 could comprise an ElectronicProgram Guide (EPG) data provider which acts as a data service provider.According to another aspect of the invention, the Content Provider 18could represent an Internet Service Provider (ISP) providing data to thesystem to enable subscribers web access or web-enhanced video via thesubscriber's television set. The Content Provider 18 transmits thecontent to a headend 26 for further transmission to subscribersdownstream in the network. Also in communication with the headend 26 isa Network Operation Center (NOC) 22, which is an external managementcenter interfaced with the DBDS 10 to allow for the remote operation ofthe system.

Content provided by the Content Provider 18 is communicated by theContent Provider 18 to one or more headends 26. From those headends 26the content is then communicated to the core network 30 of hubs 34 andonto a plurality of Hybrid/Fiber Coax (HFC) Access Networks (only oneHFC Access Network 38 is illustrated). The HFC Access Network 38typically comprises a plurality of HFC nodes 42, each which may servicea local geographical area. The content provided from the ContentProvider 18 is transmitted through the headend 26, hub 34 and HFC AccessNetwork 38 downstream to one or more taps 46 from each one of the HFCnodes 42 of the HFC Access Network 38. The hub 34 connects to the HFCnode 42 through the fiber portion of the HFC Access Network 38. Usually,the HFC node 42 connects to a subscriber's DHCT 14 through coaxial cablein a logical tree configuration, which is where theoptical-to-electrical and electrical-to-optical conversions of the HFCnetwork take place. From the HFC node 42 a coaxial drop connects the tap46 to a Network Interface Units (NIU) 52, which is a network demarcationpoint physically located on the side of the subscribers' home. The NIU52 provides a transparent interface between the HFC node 42 and thesubscribers' internal wiring. Coaxial cables are preferred in this partof the system because the electrical signals can be easily repeated withRF amplifiers. Typically, six amplifiers or less are located in seriesbetween the HFC node 42 and the subscribers' DHCTs 14. As DBDSs are wellknown to those of skill in the art, further description of the DBDS 10of FIG. 1 will not be contained herein.

II. DBDS Channels

FIG. 2 shows illustrative channels supported by the DBDS, where thechannels 60, 64, 68, 72 and 76 are input into a DHCT 14 of the presentinvention. These input channels can be provided by the one or moreContent Providers 18 illustrated in FIG. 1. Additionally, a few channelscan be generated at a Headend 26 or at a Hub 34 functioning as amini-Headend which possesses some Headend functionality. As depicted inFIG. 2, the DBDS 10 can simultaneously support a number of transportchannel types and modulation formats. The ability to carry analog anddigital signals over a large bandwidth are characteristics of a HybridFiber/Coax (HFC) Network typically employed in a DBDS, as in the DBDS 10of FIG. 1. As will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, analogand digital signals in HFC networks can be multiplexed using FrequencyDivision Multiplexing (FDM), which enables many different types ofsignals to be transmitted over the DBDS 10 to the DHCT 14 of the presentinvention. Typically, a DBDS using HFC supports downstream (i.e., in thedirection from the Headend to the DHCT) frequencies from 50 MHz to 870MHz, whereas upstream frequencies (i.e., in the direction from the DHCTto higher levels of the system) are in the 5 MHz to 42 MHz band.Generally, the RF channel bandwidth spacing for analog and digitalservices is 6 MHz. Furthermore, for a typical 870 MHz system in theU.S., a possible downstream RF spectrum subdivision plan uses 6 MHzspaced RF channels within the 50 MHz to 550 MHz band for analog videocarriers and within the 550 MHz to 870 MHz range for digital carriers.It should be understood that RF channels can be assigned to carry analogvideo signals but the present invention is not limited to embodimentswhere a RF channel is assigned to carry analog video signals uponfulfillment of a complete transition of the DBDS to an all digitalsystem.

Referring again to FIG. 2, the downstream direction channels, havingbeen multiplexed using frequency division multiplexing (FDM), and oftenreferred to as in-band channels, include Analog Transmission Channels(ATCs) 60 and Digital Transmission Channels (DTC) 64, 68, 72 (also knownas Digital Transport Channels). These channels carry video, audio anddata services. For example, these channels can carry television signals,Internet data, or any additional types of data, such as ElectronicProgram Guide (EPG) data. The signals and data carried on these channelsare collectively referred to herein as services. The ATCs 60 shown inFIG. 2 are typically broadcast in 6 MHz channels having an analogbroadcast composed of analog video and analog audio, and includeBroadcast TV Systems Committee (BTSC) stereo and Secondary Audio Program(SAP) audio. Additionally, as will be appreciated by those of skill inthe art, additional data, such as EPG data, can be sent with the analogvideo image in the Vertical Blanking Interval (VBI) of the video signal.It should be appreciated, however, that the amount of data that can betransmitted in the VBI of the analog video signal is typicallysignificantly less than data transmitted in a DTC, as explained below.

Like the ATCs 60, the DTCs 64, 68, 72 each occupy 6 MHz of the RFspectrum. However, the DTCs 64, 68, 72 are digital channels consistingof 64- or 256-Quadrature Amplitude Modulated (QAM) digital signalsformatted as MPEG-2 transport streams, allocated in a separate frequencyrange. As will be described in more detail below, the MPEG-2 transportstream enables transmission of a plurality of DTC channel types overeach 6 MHz RF spacing, as compared to a 6 MHz ATC. The three types ofdigital transport channels illustrated in FIG. 2 include broadcastdigital transmission channels 64, carousel digital transmission channels68, and on-demand transmission channels 72.

MPEG-2 transport may be used to multiplex video, audio, and data in eachof these Digital Transmission Channels (DTCs). However, because MPEG-2transport stream multiplex video, audio, and data to be placed into thesame stream, the DTCs do not necessarily have to be allocated inseparate 6 MHz RF frequencies, unlike ATCs 60. On the other hand, eachDTC is capable of carrying multiple broadcast digital video programs,multiple cycling data carousels containing broadcast data, and datarequested on-demand by the subscriber. Data is formatted, such as inInternet Protocol (IP), mapped into MPEG-2 packets, and inserted intothe multiplexed MPEG-2 transport stream. According to one aspect of theinvention, encryption can be applied to the data stream for security sothat the data, such as EPG data, may be received only by authorizedDHCTs. For instance, one individual subscriber may be authorized toreceive minimal set of EPG data, while others may be authorizedadditional incremental amounts of EPG data (for example, EPG data forfuture days) according to a tiered service fee and/or depending on theamount of memory in the DHCT. Therefore, additional subscribers in thesame local area not authorized to receive EPG data will not.

Each 6 MHz RF spacing assigned as a digital transmission channel cancarry the video and audio streams of the programs of multiple television(TV) stations, as well as media and data that is not necessarily relatedto those TV programs or TV channels, as compared to one TV channelbroadcast over one ATC 60 that consumes the entire 6 MHz. The digitaldata is inserted into MPEG transport streams carried through each 6 MHzchannel assigned for digital transmission, and then de-multiplexed atthe subscribers' DHCT so that multiple sets of data can be producedwithin each tuned 6 MHz frequency span.

Continuing with FIG. 2, the broadcast DTCs 64 and carousel DTCs 68typically function as continuous feeds for indefinite time, whereas theon-demand DTCs 72 are continuous feeds sessions for a limited time. AllDTC types are capable of being transmitted at high data rates. Thebroadcast DTCs 64 carry typical data comprising multipledigitally-MPEG-2 compressed and formatted TV channels and othercontinuously fed data information. The carousel DTCs 68 carry broadcastdata, such as EPG data, that is systematically broadcast in a cyclingfashion but updated and revised as need be. Thus, the carousel DTCs 68can serve to carry high volume data, such as EPG data, as well as otherdata at high data rates. The carousel DTCs 68 typically carry dataformatted in directories and files by a Broadcast File System (BFS),which is used for producing and transmitting data streams throughout theDBDS, and which provides an efficient means for the delivery ofapplication executables and application data to the DHCT, as disclosedby application Ser. No. 09/319,844, entitled “Using a Hierarchical FileSystem For Indexing Data Broadcast to a Client From a Network ofServers”, filed Dec. 9, 1997, assigned to Scientific Atlanta, andincorporated herein by reference. The on-demand DTCs 72, on the otherhand, can carry particular information such as compressed video andaudio pertaining to subscriber requested program preview and/or programdescriptions, as well as other specialized data information. Althoughbroadcast in nature, the carousel DTCs 68 and on-demand DTCs 72 offerdifferent functionality. The User-to-Network Download Protocol of theMPEG-2 standard's DSM-CC specification (Digital Storage Media—Commandand Control) provides the data carousel protocol used for broadcastingdata from a server located at headend 26. It also provides theinteractive download protocol for reliable downloading of data from aserver (possibly the same server) to an individual DHCT through theon-demand DTCs. Each carousel and on-demand DTC is defined by a DSM-CCsession.

Also shown in FIG. 2 is an Out-Of-Band (OOB) channel that provides acontinuously available two-way signaling path to the subscribers' DHCT14 regardless of which in-band channels are tuned to by the individualDHCT in-band tuners. The OOB channel consists of a Forward Data Channel(FDC) 76 and a Reverse Data Channel (RDC) 80. The OOB channel can complyto any one of a number of well known transport protocols but preferablycomplies to either a DAVIC 1.1 Transport Protocol with a FDC of 1.544Mbps or more using QPSK modulation and an RDC of 1.544 Mbps or moreusing QPSK modulation, or to a DOCSIS Transport Protocol with a FDC of27 Mbps using 64-QAM modulation and a RDC of 1.544 Mbps or more usingQPSK modulation or 16-QAM modulation. The OOB channels provide thetwo-way operation of the network, which allows a subscriberinteractivity with the applications and services provided by thenetwork. Therefore, functionality reflected in the DHCT 14 is similar toa networked computer (i.e., a computer without a persistent storagedevice), in addition to traditional set top box functionality, as iswell known in the art. Furthermore, the OOB channels are not limited toa 6 MHz spectrum, but generally to a smaller spectrum, such as 1.5 or 3MHz.

III. DHCT

A DHCT 14 is typically situated within the residence or business of asubscriber. It may be integrated into a device that has a display 441,such as a television set, or it may be a stand-alone unit that couplesto an external display 441, such as a display included with a computeror a television that processes media transported in television signalsfor presentation or playback to a subscriber (user of the DHCT 14). TheDHCT 14 preferably comprises a communications interface 442 forreceiving the RF signals, which can include media such as video, audio,graphical and data information, from the tap 46 and for providing anyreverse information to the tap 46 for transmission back to the headend26. The DHCT 14 further includes a processor 444, such as a centralprocessing unit or a digital sound processor, for controlling operationsof the DHCT 14, and a video output port, such as an RF output system448, for driving the display 441. The DHCT 14 also includes a tunersystem 445 for tuning to a particular television channel to be displayedand for sending and receiving data corresponding to various types ofmedia from the headend 26. The tuner system 445 includes, in oneimplementation, an out-of-band tuner (OOB) for bi-directional quadraturephase shift keying (QPSK) data communication and a quadrature amplitudemodulation (QAM) tuner for receiving television signals. The OOB iscoupled with an upstream transmitter to enable the DHCT 14 to interfacewith the network so that the DHCT 14 can provide upstream data to thenetwork, for example via the QPSK or QAM channels. This allows asubscriber to interact with the network to request data from servicessuch as program guide data and, if necessary, encryption can be added tothe OOB channels to provide privacy. Additionally, the DHCT 14 includesa receiver 446 for receiving externally generated information, such asuser inputs or commands for other devices. The DHCT 14 may also includeone or more wireless or wired communication interfaces, also calledports, for receiving and/or transmitting data to other devices. Forinstance, the DHCT 14 may feature USB (Universal Serial Bus) (forconnection to a USB camera or microphone), Ethernet (for connection to acomputer), IEEE-1394 (for connection to media devices in anentertainment center), serial, and/or parallel ports. The receiver 446and/or ports receive user inputs, which may be received from buttons orkeys located on the DHCT 14 or by a remote control device 480 thatincludes user-actuated buttons. According to one illustrative example,the DHCT 14 may feature USB or IEEE-1394 for connection of an infraredwireless remote control 480 or a wired or wireless keyboard, a camcorderwith an integrated microphone, or to a video camera and a separatemicrophone. The methods and apparatuses by which a user communicateswith the DHCT 14 is described in greater detail with respect to FIGS.5-7.

Technology for digitizing and compressing/decompressing video and speechsignals is well-known in the art. In a preferred embodiment, the DHCT 14of the present invention has the capability to simultaneously decompressand reconstruct video, audio, graphics and textual data that may, forexample, correspond to a service such as an interactive program guide.This permits the DHCT 14 to store video and audio in memory inreal-time, to scale down the spatial resolution of the video pictures,as necessary, and to composite and display a graphical user interface(GUT) presentation of the video with respective graphical and textualdata while simultaneously playing the audio that corresponds to thevideo. The same process applies in reverse and the DHCT 14 can, forexample, digitize and compress pictures from a camera for upstreamtransmission. Referring again to the DHCT 14 illustrated in FIG. 3, inone implementation, the DHCT 14 includes a memory 449 which in turnincludes non-volatile memory, such as FLASH memory 451, and randomaccess memory (RAM) 452 for storing executable programs and related datacomponents of various applications and modules for execution by the DHCT14. Both the flash memory 451 and the RAM memory 452 are coupled to theprocessor 444 for storing configuration data and operational parameters,such as commands that are recognized by the processor 444. The basicfunctionality of the DHCT 14 is provided by an operating system 453 thatis contained in flash memory 451. One or more programmed softwareapplications, herein referred to as applications, are executed byutilizing the computing resources in the DHCT 14. Applications stored inflash memory 451 or RAM memory 452 are executed by processor 444 underthe auspices of the operating system 453. Data required as input by anapplication is stored in RAM 452 and read by the processor 444 from RAM442 as needed during the course of application program execution. Inputdata may be data stored in RAM 452 by a secondary application or othersource, either internal or external to the DHCT 14, or anticipated bythe application and thus created with the application at the time it wasgenerated as a software application program, in which case it is storedin flash memory 451. Data may be received via any of the communicationports of the DHCT 14, from the headend 26 via the DHCT's networkinterface (i.e., the QAM or out-of-band tuners), or as user input viareceiver 446. A type of input data fulfills and serves the purpose ofparameters as described below. Data generated by applications is storedin RAM memory 452 by the processor 444 during the course of applicationexecution.

The flash memory 451 also contains a platform library 456. The platformlibrary 456 is a collection of functions useful to applications, such asa timer manager, compression manager (for compressing text, video and/oraudio), database manager, string managers, and other utilities (notillustrated). As shown in FIG. 3, also included within the platformlibrary is a Service Application Manager (SAM) 457. These utilities areaccessed by applications requiring these utilities thus resulting inmemory consumption savings and a consistent user interface. The ServiceApplication Manager (SAM) 457, provides a model in which the user canaccess services available on the system. A service consists of anapplication to run and a parameter, such as data content, specific tothat service. The SAM 457 handles the lifecycle of the applications onthe system, including the definition, initiation, activation, suspensionand deletion of services they provide and the downloading of theapplication into the DHCT 14 as necessary. Many services can be definedusing the same application component, with different parameters. As anon-limiting example, video programming tuning application could beexecuted with one set of parameters to view HBO and a separate set ofparameters to view CNN. Each association of the application component(tune video) and one parameter component (HBO or CNN) represent aparticular service that has a unique service ID. The SAM 457 alsointerfaces with a resource manager 467 of the operating system 453 tocontrol resources of the DHCT 14. Preferably, each application includesan application client that executes on the DHCT 14 and provides theapplication's services to the user typically through a graphical userinterface. Also contained in the flash memory 451 is a navigator 455which provides a navigation framework for the user to access servicesavailable on the cable system. Examples of the services include, in oneimplementation, watching television and pay-per-view events, listeningto digital music, and an interactive bi-directional service programguide, each of which is controlled through separate applications inflash memory 451. The navigator 455 also allows users to access varioussettings of the DHCT 14, including volume, parental control and VCRcommands. Moreover, the navigator 455 provides users with televisionrelated menu options that correspond to DHCT 14 functions such asinteractive program guides, channel blocking and/or displaying a programpurchase list.

Traditional interactive program guides (IPG), Watch TV 462, andpay-per-view (PPV) are examples of resident applications in flash memory451. An IPG displays a program guide to the user and populates the guidewith program data for selection, watch TV 462 enables a user to simply“watch television”, and PPV enables viewing of premium televisionservices. Because these applications are in flash memory 451, eachremains available to the user and does not need to be downloaded eachtime the DHCT 14 initializes.

Applications stored in the RAM 452 may be loaded when the DHCT 14initializes or downloaded to the DHCT 14 upon a user-initiated commandusing an input device such as the remote control device 480. In anillustrative example, RAM memory 452 may contain a video-on-demandapplication (VOD) 463, an e-mail application 465, a bi-directionalservices program guide client application 477 and a digital musicapplication. Additionally, RAM memory 452 could also contain a calendarand/or a calculator application. It will be obvious to one with ordinaryskill in the art that these applications are illustrative and merelyserve as examples of possible embodiments of the invention.

These applications as well as others provided by a cable systemoperator, are top level software entities on the network for providingservices to the user. In one implementation, all applications executingon the DHCT 14 work with the navigator 455 by abiding by severalguidelines. For example, an application should first utilize andimplement the SAM 457 for provisioning, activation, and suspension ofservices. Second, an application should share DHCT 14 resources withother applications and abide by the resource management policies of theSAM 457, the operating system 453, and the DHCT 14. Third, anapplication should handle all situations where resources are unavailablewithout navigator 455 intervention. Fourth, when an application losesservice authorization while providing a service, an application shouldsuspend the service gracefully. The navigator 455 will reactivate anindividual service application when it later becomes authorized.Finally, an application should be configured so it does not respond toinput commands reserved for the navigator. For instance, as anon-limiting example, when user input commands are entered via awireless remote control device 480 or keyboard, the application may beconfigured so it does not have access to certain user input keys thatare reserved by the navigator 455 (i.e., power, channel ±, volume ±,etc.). Without limitation to the foregoing, in some circumstancescertain applications during the course of program execution may reach amachine-state in which input keys that would ordinarily be reserved maybe employed for input by the application but only during that particularmachine-state. For instance, an application may display a user interfacethat specifically requests input or selection from the user in which oneor more of the reserved keys are used momentarily during thatmachine-state.

FIG. 4 is another depiction of selected elements of the DHCT 14including some of the elements previously discussed. The DHCT 14includes a tuner system 445 that can select one of a plurality oftransmission channels provided from a headend 26, such as occurs in, fora non-limiting example, a digital cable TV network or a DBDS. The tunersystem 445 enables the DHCT 14 to tune to downstream media and datatransmissions, thereby allowing a user to receive digital video, audioand data content associated with a program or a bi-directionalcommunication service content transmitted via the subscriber networktelevision system. As in the DHCT 14 of FIG. 3, the tuner system 445receives transmissions via the communication interface 442. Alsoconnected to the communications interface 442 are an out of band (OOB)tuner and upstream transmitter 547. It should be appreciated thatalthough the OOB tuner and upstream transmitter 547 are illustrated asone component in FIG. 4, the tuner and transmitter can be independent ofeach other and located separately within the DHCT 14. Nonetheless, bothcomponents are in communication with the subscriber network televisionsystem so that upstream transmissions can be received by the system toeffect bi-directional communication. The OOB tuner and upstreamtransmitter 547 enable the DHCT 14 to interface with a subscribernetwork television system so that the DHCT 14 can provide upstream datato the network, for example, via a QPSK channel that serves as anupstream OOB channel (see FIG. 2) and received by a QPSK receiver inQPSK modem 326 in headend 26.

Alternatively, upstream data transmission can be effected via a QAMchannel with a QAM transmitter (not illustrated) in DHCT 14 and a QAMreceiver in headend 26. According to yet another alternative embodiment,a telephone modem (not shown) can be located in the DHCT 14 and utilizedfor upstream data transmission, and a headend 26 or hub 12 or othercomponent located upstream in the subscriber network television systemmay receive data from a telephone network coupled to a telephone modemand can route the upstream data to a destination internal or external tothe subscriber network television system.

The DHCT 14 includes a demultiplexing system 543 comprisingfunctionality for QAM demodulation, forward error correction (FEC),transport demultiplexing, decryption, and parsing, as is well known inthe art, to counter the effect of signal processing of broadcast mediaand data in the subscriber network television system. Transportdemultiplexing preferably includes MPEG-2 transport demultiplexing. Thedemultiplexing system 543 is in communication with communicationinterface 442, tuner system 445 and processor 444 and effects receptionof compressed video streams, compressed audio streams, and compresseddata streams corresponding to a selected or requested service to beseparated from other programs and/or streams transported in the tunedtransmission channel and to be presented to the subscriber. The DHCT 14also includes a media engine 580 configured with elements for drivingthe display 441, in cooperation with output system 448, and the mediaengine 580 also includes decoding circuitry 598 to decode compresseddigital video, digital channel audio, digital data and analog channelaudio.

The DHCT 14 shown in FIG. 4 further includes a security processor 565,which is a secure element for performing security and conditional accessrelated functions. More particularly, the security processor 565functions to authorize a paying subscriber's DHCT 14 to executespecialized functionality of the DHCT 14, such as receiving anddecrypting (or descrambling) encrypted (or scrambled) media and otherdata sent from a remote device. The security processor 565 preferablyincludes a microprocessor, and a memory that only the microprocessor ofthe security processor 565 may access. Preferably, the securityprocessor 565 is contained in a tamper proof package. Additionally,according to one preferred embodiment, the security processor 565 storesauthorization information that indicate the rights of a subscriber toaccess a particular session's streams. Subscriber authorizationinformation is obtained from one or more entitlement messages sent bythe head end 26 after, or concurrently with, initialization of the DHCT14 into a purchased service. If the authorization information indicatesthat the subscriber is entitled to the session's streams, the securityprocessor 565 generates a code word or key based on the authorizationinformation and the received entitlement control message, and thesecurity processor 565 uses this key to decrypt the encrypted session'sstreams at the decryptor 588.

The DHCT 14 also includes a clock 582 and timers 590 that enablecomputation of the time relationship between its internal clock and theclock specified by the received session's streams. By reading andinterpreting the clock and time stamps specifications intrinsic in thesession's streams (for example, as provisioned in MPEG-2), or ascommunicated by the head end 26 via the out of band pathway or channel,the DHCT 14 can effect an output for the media and/or informationreceived from the remote location as a synchronized presentation to theuser that includes reconstructed video pictures, the reconstructeddigital audio samples, and supplementary information that emanated fromthe remote location.

As noted above, under the auspices of the real-time operating system 453(FIG. 3) executed by processor 444, packets corresponding to thesession's media streams and/or data are received in DHCT 14 viacommunications interface 442 and stored in a temporary buffer in memory449. The temporary buffer is implemented and managed as a circularbuffer to enable data transfers from the temporary buffer to the mediamemory 560 in concert with the insertion of newly arriving packets intothe temporary buffer. Packets are read from the temporary buffer inmemory 449 and written to media memory 560 in a sufficiently fastmanner. Orchestration of multiple simultaneous data transfer operationsis effected so that while packets are being transferred from memory 449to media memory 560, new packets are received and stored in thetemporary buffer.

IV. Remote Control Device

FIG. 5 illustrates a non-limiting example of a remote control devicethat is used to provide user input to the DHCT 14. Although the remotecontrol device is described herein with respect to the DHCT 14 discussedabove, the remote control device and speech recognition system of thepresent invention may be used in conjunction with a television, audioequipment, computers, or other electronics that the user may wish toremotely control. Additionally, although FIG. 5 is directed to a remotecontrol similar in external appearance to conventional remote controls,the remote control device of the present invention may comprise acomputer keyboard, hand-held controller, pressure-sensitive pad, mouse,or similar input device used to control a computer, television, or otherelectronic device. According to another embodiment of the presentinvention the remote control device can comprise a number of distributedelements, such as microphones, that are located throughout a room orhouse to provide widely supported remote control functions.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the remote control device 480 includes arrowbuttons 882; specifically, an up arrow button 883, a down arrow button884, a left arrow button 885, and a right arrow button 886 are used toscroll through options or selections and/or to highlight an option orselection displayed on one of a plurality of user interface screens. Theselect button 887 may be used to select a currently highlighted optionor selection that is provided to the user. Lettered buttons “A” 888, “B”889, and “C” 890 may also be used to implement functions on a userinterface screen that have the corresponding letter. Additionally, theremote control device 480 includes numeric buttons 895 that are used toenter numbers, or configured to enter letters corresponding to thenumeric buttons 895. In describing the example screen displays, it willbe understood that “selecting” or “pressing” the navigational andlettered buttons on the screen actually require selecting thecorresponding remote control device 480 buttons.

The remote control device 480 also includes at least one microphone 891for receiving speech and sounds, such as voice-activated controls.Additionally, the remote control device 480 may include one or moreswitches or buttons (not illustrated) associated with the microphone 891that allow the user to turn the microphone on or off, or to adjust thesensitivity of the microphone, as is common in conventionalmicrocassette voice recorders. It will be appreciated that it isadvantageous that the microphone sensitivity be set relatively low suchthat ambient noise from sources other than the user (e.g., televisionsound) does not significantly impact the voice controls received fromthe user. Additionally, a second microphone acting as a noise-cancelingmicrophone in the remote control device 480 can provide some attenuationof ambient noise while transducing the desired voice commands. Suchmicrophones are commonly used in consumer electronic devices such aslightweight telephone headsets, cellphones, and computer microphoneaccessories. The microphone 891 allows a user to send voice-activatedcommands to the DHCT to control navigation through menus withoutrequiring to enter a sequence of one or more key strokes or buttondepressions on the remote control device 480. For instance, a user mayselect a program guide or particular television channel by simply saying“Program Guide” or “Channel 160” into the microphone 891.

Controlling the DHCT 14 via voice-activated commands simplifies theprocess of entering input for certain commands that would typicallyrequire navigation through a maze of interactive menus presented to theuser. A single voice-activated command spoken by user into microphone891 can effect the DHCT 14 to enter a machine-state that wouldordinarily require a sequence of a plurality of key presses through thenavigation of a sequence of one or more menus presented in the graphicaluser interface (GUI) on the display 441. As explained below, the usercan customize voice-activated commands through a set-up trainingprocedure in which voice-activated commands are associated with aspecific command or with a specific sequence of commands. Conveniently,a user speaking into microphone 891 in the remote control device 480 cando so without unnecessarily having to look and search on remote controldevice 480 for the appropriate key to press.

According to one embodiment of the invention, remote control device 480has a dedicated enable microphone button or key 893, that is required tobe pressed by the user during the complete duration of time that theuser is entering voice-activated commands via microphone 891. Uponrelease of the enable microphone key 893, the digital signal processingcapability of the remote control device 480 is disabled or deactivated.Alternatively, the enable microphone key 893 can also be a switch thatis required to be pushed or set to an enable position. In yet anotherembodiment, the enable microphone button 893 can operate as a functionaltoggle that activates or deactivates the microphone each time it ispressed. The microphone may also be used in conjunction with one or morespeakers on the remote (not illustrated), DHCT, or device to which theDCHT is in communication with, such that the user may be prompted tospeak into the remote. For instance, a user may be instructed to speakvia a graphical user interface. Furthermore, the microphone 891 may beused by the user in conjunction with one or more buttons on the remotecontrol device 480, such that a combination of speech and buttons isused to transmit controls to the DCHT or receiving device. Manyalternative methods of providing user input may be used including aremote control device with different buttons and/or button layouts, akeyboard device similarly with one or more microphones, a voiceactivated device, etc. The remote control also includes a wirelesstransmitter 892 and/or transceiver transmitting control signals to theDHCT. The transmitter 892 may be a radio frequency (RF) or infraredtransmitter (IR), as are well known in the art.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram flow chart 897 illustrating the method andcomponents by which the remote control device 480 receives, digitizes,encodes and transmits speech controls. To perform these processes theremote control device 480 hardware and/or software generally includes amicrophone 891, speech digitizing circuitry 900, components 904, 906,908 to effect speech encoding on a digitized speech signal, and awireless transmitter 892. Referring now to FIG. 6, speech received atthe microphone 891 is forwarded to an analog to speech digital (A/D)converter 900 where it is digitized. The digital speech signal is thenforwarded to a DSP processor 904, which is a processor designed toperform signal-manipulation calculations at high speed, such as digitalsignal filtering, as is well known to those of skill in the art. The DSP904 features an architecture comprising of on-chip integration ofvarious subcomponents and dedicated data paths between some of thesubcomponents for efficiency in computation. Instruction set in the DSP904 allows software programs to exercise the functionality ofsubcomponents in the DSP 904 in a number of possible ways. Multiplesubcomponents may be exercised in parallel or in a specific sequence toobtain high performance for a respective desired computation.Furthermore, the DSP 904 is typically designed with its instruction settailored to exercise its subcomponents for high performance execution ofnumerical intensive operations as required for digital signalprocessing. In one embodiment DSP 904 may be a general-purposemicroprocessor controlled by software or firmware, and/or a programmablelogic array, and/or an application-specific integrated circuit withspecial-purpose hardware logic for performing special computationstypical of digital signal processing.

Also illustrated in FIG. 6 is a digital speech filter 906. The digitalspeech filtering 906 may be a separate circuit working in communicationwith DSP processor 904 or a task implemented in one or more of thesubcomponents of DSP 904 as an executable program. The function ofdigital speech filter 906 relies in one embodiment, on the storage ofdigitized speech samples. The R/W Memory 902 serves as a repository forinput and output of data between the components or subcomponents ofremote control device 480. For instance, digitized speech samples outputby A/D converter 900 may be stored in a section of memory 902 allocatedas a buffer to be used as input data by DSP 904. Hence, memory 902 canalso be used to store audio data awaiting processing, to storeintermediate results and internal state information during computations,and to queue output data. Thereafter, the digitized speech signals areforwarded to the digital speech filter 906, which reduces the ambientnoise received by the microphone 891. In one embodiment of the presentinvention the digital speech filter 906 is a band pass filter (BPF).When a second microphone (not shown) in the remote control device 480 isemployed to assist in noise-cancellation, the digital speech filter 906employs digitized audio samples provided by A/D converter 900 and asecond A/D converter (not shown) that digitizes input from secondmicrophone. It should also be appreciated by those of ordinary skill inthe art that the digital speech filter 906 can also be implemented withsoftware and/or hardware in the DSP 904.

In an alternate embodiment, digital speech filter 906 effects filteringfor retention of the band-pass of the radio frequency (RF) spectrumcorresponding to a human's speech signal, accentuating the filtering outof spectra where human speech is not found. The resulting filteredsignal is then encoded by speech encoder engine 908 as explained above.In yet another embodiment, digital speech filter 906 functions as afilter to filter in spectrum corresponding to a human's speech signaland to filter out ambient noise.

After filtering is performed by the digital speech filter 906, thedigital speech signals are received at a speech encoder engine 908 whichimplements compression of the digitized speech samples presented at itsinput and outputs a compressed digitized speech stream in compliance toa specified method or algorithm, such as an InternationalTelecommunications Union (ITU) standard G.723 (“Dual rate speech codecfor multimedia communications transmitting at 6.3 or 5.3 kbit/s”). Inone embodiment the DSP 904 may perform the compression of the digitizedspeech signal in part or in full or in cooperation and communicationwith speech encoder engine 908. The speech encoder engine 908 mayfurther perform in full or in part packetization of the compressedstream as well as include synchronization information in the packetizedstream, as need be, in compliance to a designated format and/orprotocol. Alternatively, the DSP 904 may perform packetization of thecompressed stream produced by speech encoder engine 908 as well asinclude synchronization information, solely or in part in communicationwith speech encoder engine 908. Referring again to FIG. 6, a wirelesstransmitter 892 in the remote control device 480 includes a transmissionantenna and effects transmission of information intended for receptionby a receiver in the DHCT 14 over a wireless channel 926. The wirelesstransmitter 892 and receiver communicate by fulfillment of acommunication protocol stack. As a non-limiting example, a communicationprotocol stack includes in order from bottom to top: a physical layer, alink layer, a network layer, a data transport layer, a control protocollayer, a framing and packet layer, a speech encoding/decoding layer anda presentation layer. Order from bottom to top is typically associatedwith the sequence of layers at the receiver. Without limiting any aspectof the invention, layers can be in a different order in the stackhierarchy. It is also possible for some layers to overlap with eachother in the stack hierarchy, for a layer to contain or subsume another,or for a layer to be in parallel to one or more layers in the stackhierarchy. As a whole, the communication protocol stack at the receiverfulfills operations in reverse order of the operations performed intransmission to counter the effect of the processing performed intransmission. As a non-limiting example, the receiver includesprovisions for parsing (or depacketization), reassembly of packets andreconstruction of frames to present a compressed digital speech streamas will be described below.

According to one aspect of the invention, a set of control commands isprovisioned by the fulfillment of the communication protocol stackduring transmission and reception for effective and reliablecommunication. In FIG. 6, control commands are generated under executionof software programs in DSP 904. Control commands may comprise ofmessages encoded into a control stream, also generated by the DSP 904,and multiplexed with compressed stream produced by the speech encoderengine 908 into a data transport stream in the multiplexer 910, thusfulfilling the data transport layer and control protocol layer,respectively or combined. In one embodiment, the multiplexer 910 may beimplemented in full by DSP 904. In another embodiment, multiplexing ofthe compressed stream and control stream into a data transport streammay be performed in part by DSP 904 in communication with multiplexer910. Transport stream output by the multiplexer 910 undergoes additionof information for error correction and modulation 912 to be transmittedby wireless transmitter 892. Thus error correction and modulation 912and transmitter 892 fulfill the physical layer.

Some of the control commands perform handshaking during a set-up orinitialization stage or on a periodic basis to support sustenance ofcommunication. As a non-limiting example, additional control commandstransmitted in the control stream include: start, stop, standby and noactive-speech frame. The start and stop commands serve as indicators todemarcate a voice-activated command spoken by the user into microphone891 while depressing the enable microphone button, key or switch 893.The standby command transmitted by transmitter 892 serves to indicate tothe receiver 924 during regular operation that there is no active speechtransmission. Hence, during standby periods the transmitted transportstream comprises of a control stream without a compressed speech streamand thus the speech encoder 908 is not active. The standby commandexplicitly identifies that enable microphone button 893 is notdepressed. In an alternate embodiment, standby command is onlytransmitted if the enable microphone button 893 is not depressed for aperiod of time longer than a predetermined threshold programmed into DSP904 in communication with memory 902.

The “no active-speech frame” command is transmitted while the user holdsdown enable microphone button 893 during gaps between spoken words byuser. It simplifies segmentation operation in the audio decoding loop,as explained below. Furthermore, it advantageously reduces processing ofinformation while the transmitter and receiver are engaged in activecommunication. The no active-speech frame command is generated by DSP904 by detecting the energy of audio samples output by A/D converter 900preferably after BPF filer 906 performs filtering to retain theband-pass of the radio frequency (RF) spectrum corresponding to ahuman's speech signal. When the user is not speaking into microphone891, the output produced by digital speech filter 906 will exhibit asignificantly reduction or absence of energy. DSP 904 monitors anddetects such condition and outputs a corresponding “no active-speechframe” for the period corresponding to the absence of speech. Forinstance, as a non-limiting example, the DSP 904 may detect when theamplitude (or value) of each sample in a contiguous sequence of filteredaudio samples produced by the digital speech filter 906 is below athreshold value. Thus if a plurality contiguous audio samples is greaterthan a certain threshold, threshold 2, and each of the samples haveamplitude less than threshold 1, a no active-speech frame command isgenerated with start time corresponding to the first sample in thesequence of samples. The no active-speech frame is terminated upon thedetection of an audio sample with amplitude over threshold 2. Speechencoder 908 does not encode nor produce an encoded speech streamthroughout the duration of a “no active-speech frame” control command.

According to one embodiment of the invention, wireless communicationbetween the remote control device 480 and the DHCT is in accordance withIEEE 802.11b, and the remote control is assigned an internet protocol(IP) address by or through DHCT 14 under the auspices of the network towhich DHCT 14 is connected. Thus, where the DHCT is part of a cabletelevision network, the remote control device 480 may be assigned an IPaddress by or through DHCT 14 under the auspices of the Cable TelevisionNetwork illustrated in FIG. 1. Referring again to FIG. 6, after thedigital speech signal is multiplexed by a multiplexer 910, errorcorrection and modulation is performed by an error corrector andmodulator 912, as is known to those of skill in the art. Finally, thedigital speech signals are transmitted 926 from the remote controldevice 480 using a wireless transmitter or transceiver 892.

Outputs presented in FIG. 6 at corresponding next-stage inputs of theprocessing pipeline may be connected via accessible localized memory(not shown) in which the outputting device stores the output data andthe inputting device thereafter inputs the output data written to memoryby the respective outputting device. Outputting and inputting devicesinclude A/D converter 900, DSP 904, digital signal filter 906, speechencoder engine 908, and components or subcomponents thereof.Furthermore, it will be understood by those having ordinary skill in theart that components can be spatially located in different areas oftransmission pipeline 897 or remote control device 480.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram depicting wireless channel receiver andprocessing 925 in the DHCT 14 receiver to effect the reception anddecoding of speech signals transmitted over a wireless channel,according to one embodiment of the present invention. In an alternateembodiment of the invention, the receiver serves as an infrared signalreceiver and wireless channel receiver and processing 925 is performedby a separate entity in DHCT 14. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the digitalspeech signals transmitted 926 over a wireless channel from the remotecontrol device 480 are received at a wireless channel receiver 924within the DHCT 14. The wireless channel receiver 924 includes areceiver antenna. As a non-limiting example of processing, receiveddigital speech signals undergo demodulation and forward error correctionperformed by a demodulator 914 and forward error corrector 916,respectively. Thereafter, the digital signal is demultiplexed and/ordeframed by a demultiplexer 918, and decoded by a speech decoder 920.Pursuant to a set-up or initialization stage and a start controlcommand, speech decoder 920 becomes enabled to start decoding compressedspeech streams. To effect decoding, the bitstream corresponding to theencoded speech signal is buffered in a read/write memory, such as mediamemory 560, according to buffering requirements for the required bitrate of bitstream, such as provided by the G.723 standard, so that thespeech can be decoded by a specific decoder, such as a G.723 speechdecoder 920. Speech decoder 920 outputs the decompressed andreconstructed speech signal as a sequence of digital samples that isthen stored within read/write (R/W) memory 922.

In an alternate embodiment (R/W) memory 922 may be a portion of RAM 452in system memory 449 or in media memory 560. In yet another embodiment,(R/W) memory 922 may be a separate memory, distinct from media memory560 and RAM 452, and localized within the wireless channel receiverHowever, the memory is preferably included within system memory 449 inthe DHCT 14. It should be appreciated that, but for the memory 922 asaforementioned, the speech reception components within the DHCT 14described immediately are preferably located within the receiver 446component of the DHCT 14 illustrated in FIG. 4 However, it should alsobe appreciated that all of the components illustrated in FIG. 7 may bedistributed throughout the DHCT 14, such as in the Demultiplexer/Parser543, processor 444, media engine 580, and the like.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of components comprising an audio processingloop 927, according to one embodiment of the present invention. Thecomponents eliminate undesirable sound from the speech decoded at theDHCT 14. Like the components of FIG. 7, each of the components arelocated within one or more components of the DHCT 14, but for thespeaker 930, which can represent a speaker associated with an electroniccomponent within control of the DHCT 14.

As illustrated in FIG. 8, after the received speech is decoded by speechdecoder 920, the decoded speech streams are deposited into a section ofmemory 922 designated as a first buffer, which is a circular buffer forstoring audio. Although illustrated as separate from the DHCT memory 449or media memory 560 in FIG. 8, it should be appreciated that two of thememory elements may be the same, such that memory 922 is whollycontained within memory 449 or media memory 560, or that the threememories may be a single physical memory. As previously described, thespeech decoder 920 produces decoded speech in response to encoded speechstreams arriving through the DHCT 14 receiver 924. Decoded speechstreams may include ambient noise or background audio signals that mayhave been picked up by microphone 891. A tuned television channel'sprogram audio is a potential source for background audio.

According to one embodiment, the stored speech streams are passedthrough a band pass filter 933 to pass the human speech part of the RFspectrum while minimizing, to the greatest extent possible, unwantedpast program audio picked up by the subscriber's microphone 891.Filtering implemented by band pass filter 933 preferably exercisesfiltering parameters in accordance of knowledge of filtering parametersemployed in band pass filter 906 in remote control device 480 to fulfilla complementary overall optimized filtering operation. Knowledge offiltering performed by band pass filter 906 in remote control device 480also avoids excessive filtering that could potentially degrade thedesired digitized speech signal. The filtered digital speech streams arethen stored in memory 949 such that they can be processed in the nextstage in the audio processing loop 927. It will be appreciated thatalthough the band pass filter 933 is included in the audio processingloop 927 illustrated in FIG. 8, it may be a separate circuit working incommunication with DSP processor 945 or a task implemented in one ormore of the subcomponents of DSP 945 as an executable program.

Generally, to eliminate undesirable sound from the decoded speech, asecond audio buffer is maintained in the DHCT's memory 922 that retainsthe audio signal corresponding to a tuned television channel's programaudio played by the DHCT 14 in the immediate past. The second audiobuffer is hereafter referred to as the outgoing audio buffer. Accordingto one aspect of the invention, the outgoing audio buffer retains audiosamples occurring a few milliseconds in the immediate past. However,this time is adjustable under program control, and thus, the amount ofmemory required for outgoing audio buffer may increase in relation tothe length of time audio samples are retained for the played programaudio.

For pragmatic reasons, the amount of memory allocated for the outgoingaudio buffer and the incoming audio buffer are fixed respectively to asize larger than the expected worst-case consumption. The worst caseconsumption size for each is determined according to a number offactors, including the longest voice activation command expected by auser and the processing throughput capabilities in audio processing loop927. The longest voice activation command expected as input from a useris determined during the training or set-up procedure explained indetail below. During the training or set-up procedure, conducted apriori, the user trains the DHCT 14 to recognize user's speech andassociate voice commands with one or more desired actions.

Similar to the incoming audio buffer, the outgoing audio buffer ispreferably a revolving or circular buffer retaining an amount of programaudio signal equal to an interval of time from the present to an extentof the immediate past, such that the buffer retains a time interval'sworth of past program audio samples. An example of a circular buffer isthe Delay Buffer 1 in the memory 922 of FIG. 8. After the outgoing audiobuffer is populated with initial samples, the program audio signal fromthe tuned channel stored in the outgoing audio buffer in the DHCT 14 isseparated from the decoded and filtered speech signal. This is similarto the manner by which background noise may be subtracted or separatedfrom a sequence of digitized audio samples by employing digitalfiltering techniques. Furthermore, the filtering techniques retain thebandpass corresponding to the speech signal, accentuating the filteringout or discard of spectra where human speech is not found. The resultingfiltered signal may undergo additional processing in the DSP 945 toseparate remnants of the played tuned audio program.

Audio corresponding to the played tuned channel may be picked up bymicrophone 891 as part of or mixed in with the intended speech input bya subscriber wishing to control DHCT 14 with speech commands. Forpurposes of separation from a received speech signal to bemachine-interpreted to effect control of the DHCT 14 from audiocorresponding to the played tuned channel in the past that infiltratedinput to the microphone 891, the buffered samples of program audiosignal equal to an interval of time from the present to the immediatepast. In one embodiment, the procedure of separation of the audio signalcorresponding to the played tuned channel in the past is performed for aplurality of different offsets corresponding to small time shifts toobtain a respective set of distinct background-audio-separated speechsignals. Each background-audio-separated speech signal is obtained byemploying a respective time-shifted delay buffer. As a non-limitingexample of the respective time-shifted delay buffers, FIG. 8 depictsoutgoing audio buffer as Delay Buffer 1, Delay Buffer 2, to Delay Buffer“n” in part of memory 922. The sequence of Delay Buffers may actuallyoverlap to make effective use of memory 922 and to avoid redundantstorage of common audio samples among the delay buffers. Therefore, theset of Delay Buffers is preferably implemented as one contiguouscircular buffer and each Delay Buffer is accessible with a start pointerand an end pointer that effectively demarcate a respective time-shift.

As a non-limiting example, a circular buffer comprising overlappingDelay Buffers may be implemented by storing data in a designated sectionof memory 922 spanning consecutive memory locations that are addressablewith contiguous increasing addresses. While accessing the contiguouscircular buffer, if the highest addressable location of memory isreached, the subsequent memory access is performed at the first memorylocation of the section of memory 922 designated to the circular buffer.A time-shift, or a delay in start time, from a second Delay Bufferrelative to a first Delay Buffer is performed by assigning a memoryaddress, or pointer, to the start of second Delay Buffer that supersedesthe memory address that demarcates the start Delay Buffer within thecircular buffer concept.

Continuing with the components of the audio processing loop 927, the DSP945 features an architecture comprising of on-chip integration ofvarious subcomponents and dedicated data paths between some of thesubcomponents for efficiency in computation. An instruction set withinthe DSP 945 allows software programs to exercise the functionality ofsubcomponents in DSP 945 in a number of possible ways. Multiplesubcomponents may be exercised in parallel or in a specific sequence toobtain high performance for a respective desired computation.Furthermore, the DSP 945 is preferably designed with its instruction settailored to exercise its subcomponents for high performance execution ofnumerical intensive operations as required for digital signalprocessing. In one embodiment, the DSP 945 may be a general-purposemicroprocessor controlled by software or firmware, and/or a programmablelogic array, and/or an application-specific integrated circuit withspecial-purpose hardware logic for performing special computationstypical of digital signal processing.

The R/W Memory 922 serves as a repository for input and output of databetween the components or subcomponents of audio processing loop 927.For instance, digitized speech samples output by bandpass filter 933 arestored in memory 922 and thereafter input to a signal separator 947. Thememory 922 can also be used to store audio data awaiting processing, tostore intermediate results and internal state information duringcomputations, and to queue output data. The signal separator 947 elementmay be a separate circuit working in communication with DSP processor945 or a task implemented in one or more of the subcomponents of DSP 945as an executable program. Signal separation 947 and/or DSP 945 effectseparation of one or more time-shifted versions of the past programaudio signal stored in outgoing audio buffer in memory 922 from thedecoded speech signal stored in incoming audio buffer in memory 922. Alltime-shifted versions of the past program audio signal can be caused tobe separated from the decoded speech signal. Each modified signal in theset of separated signals is stored in memory 922 and considered as aninput candidate containing a user command. Each input candidate isconsidered to find the best match in a dictionary of set of commandsstored within the memory 949 in DHCT 14. A best match from the set ofseparated signals is determined according to matching criteria, and avisual display confirming the match may be presented to the user.

As explained above, control commands are carried in control streammultiplexed in transport stream received at DHCT 14 via the wirelessreceiver process discussed with respect to FIG. 7. Processing andinterpretation for a voice-activated command from a user employingremote control device 480 is demarcated by reception and interpretationof a “start” control command and a “stop” control command in DHCT 14.Therefore, the aforementioned reception of a compressed audio stream,decoding thereof by speech decoder engine 920, and processing thereof byaudio processing loop 927 is only effective for information enveloped bya pair of “start” and “stop” control commands.

Incoming audio buffer in memory 922 is filled at a start location withdata received pursuant to reception of a start control command and noadditional data is written to incoming audio buffer after reception ofthe stop control command. Such content in input audio buffer representsa valid voice-activated command from user. Upon reception andinterpretation of a no active-speech frame command in the audioprocessing loop 927 that is interspersed during a valid voice-activatedcommand from user, the speech decoder 920 stores information in R/Wmemory 922 specifying the start and length of time of the no-activespeech frame. Processing such as filtering and signal separation, in theaudio processing loop 927 is omitted for the corresponding duration ofthe no-active speech frame. Thus the consumption of data from theoutgoing audio buffer containing the tuned channel's program audio isadvanced by an amount of samples equal to the duration of noactive-speech frame.

In one alternate embodiment, rather than effecting band pass filter 933prior to signal separation 947 to filter the human speech part of the RFspectrum, signal separation 947 is performed first and then secondly bythe band pass filter 933. Regardless of the order in which band passfilter 933 is performed, the band pass filter 933 may include noisefiltering, as an alternative to speech spectrum filtering or as anadditional option. Furthermore, the bandpass filter 933 may implementnoise filtering to an extent or amount so programmed in the DSP 945 thatis based on knowledge of the extent or amount of filtering performed byfilter 906 in remote control device 480.

At this point, one or more of the time-shifted versions of separatedand/or filtered speech streams stored in incoming audio buffer in memory922 undergo segmentation by a speech segmentation component 955 toobtain a sequence of speech segments. The speech segmentation component955 may be implemented as a separate component or in communication withDSP 945. Alternatively, speech segmentation component 955 may be aprogrammed software task in DSP 945. Speech segments output by speechsegmentation component 955 are stored in sequential order in memory suchthat they can be compared with stored programmed voice commands indictionary stored in memory 949 by a comparison module 935. In oneembodiment comparison module is implemented by DSP 945 and in anotherembodiment by processor 444. In the former embodiment, speech segmentsoutput by speech segmentation component 945 are stored in R/W memory922. If the processor 444 performs the comparison, speech segmentsoutput by speech segmentation component 945 are stored in sequentialorder in RAM 452. To effect this comparison, each respective speechsegment of a candidate processed speech stream (i.e., the speech streamreceived from memory) is correlated to the digitized version of everyentry stored in a dictionary stored in system memory 949. Each entry ofthe dictionary comprises one or more speech segments. Preferably,non-volatile memory such as FLASH memory 451 is employed to storedictionary (needs added to FIG. 3). Each entry of dictionary 458 is aset of speech segment in sequential order representing programmed voicecommands preferably stored in memory 449 during a training procedure.

A matching algorithm is at the basis of finding the best dictionaryentry. As a non-limiting example, a segment or sequence of segments froman input candidate stream can be matched respectively to a segment of adictionary entry or a sequence of segments comprising a dictionaryentry, in whole or in part. The matching operation yields a certaintyscore indicative of the closeness in match between two sequence ofsegments, each with the same number of segments. Non-limiting examplesof matching scores include the mean-square error between two sequencesor the sum of the absolute differences between the segments. Preferably,digital cross correlation as known to practitioners of digital signalprocessing, is performed. As discussed in greater detail below, thedictionary comprises segments stored therein during a training sessionwith a user, such that the user's voice for various commands is storedin the dictionary for later comparison to user speech. Each uniquedictionary entry or ordered combinations of dictionary entries has anassociated command to effect control or interactive navigation ofapplications or services in DHCT 14.

More specifically, each time-shifted version of the processed speechsignal comprises a sequence of speech segments that serves as acandidate to be matched to dictionary entries. Under processor 444execution and access to and communication with memory, the comparisoncomponent 935 effects the procedure of finding the best match betweenthe time-shifted versions of the processed speech signals and thedictionary entries. The highest matching score for a candidate sequenceof speech segments is found by comparing the matching scores obtainedfor each dictionary entry. Thus, the best matching score for the bestmatch for each respective time-shifted version of the processed speechsignal is stored in memory. Then, the maximum of all stored matchingscores is obtained by comparison. If the maximum value of all matchingscores is above a threshold value, and is higher than the matching scorefrom other candidate stream segments, the candidate stream represents avalid user command and the DHCT processor 444 instructs the DHCT'snavigator 942 to perform the desired command via the action module 938.Additionally, the DHCT 14 can forward the user commands over networks towhich the DHCT 14 may be connected so that the user can control otherremote-controllable elements, such as other home electronic devices(e.g., digital video disk players, video cassette recorders, homesecurity systems, thermostats, lights, and the like). If the matchingscore is not above the threshold, all of the candidate segments areignored. Lastly, if more than one candidate segment's best matchingscore is above the threshold, and has an equal matching score to othercandidate segments, the user is queried via a graphical user interfaceto confirm the command or to repeat the command.

The DSP 945 illustrated in FIG. 8 performs speech filtering to removetelevision audio from the digital signals received from the remotecontrol device. The speech filtering enables the DHCT to obtain accuratespeech signals despite of audio signals transmitted by the DHCT onelectronic equipment. Therefore, where a television's audio istransmitted to the television from the DHCT, and thus an audible soundcaptured by the microphone 891 in remote control device 480, thetelevision audio can be subtracted or separated from the user's voicecommands as described above.

As an alternative embodiment to the use of a microphone which capturesvoice at a remote control device and transmits the voice to a DHCT, thepresent invention may also be implemented such that the microphoneseparately resides from a remote control device. According to one aspectof the present invention the microphone resides in the DHCT.Additionally, although it is preferred that the signals transmitted fromthe remote control device to the DHCT be in digital form, as describedin detail above, analog methods analogous to those used in residentialportable telephones, such as amplitude modulated RF carriers, frequencymodulated RF carriers, and digital or analog spread spectrum RFcarriers, may likewise be used. Moreover, privacy-enhancing techniquessuch as encryption and/or digital spread spectrum technology, as arewell known in the art, may be applied to the microphone signals to avoidinterference with nearby communications or intentional and/orunintentional eavesdropping.

V. Training Procedure

The dictionary 458 entries comprise of a digitized sequence of speechsegments, each uniquely associated with a command for navigation orcontrol of DHCT 14. Dictionary entries and associated commandassociation are preferably constructed during a user training procedure.Upon user input with input device 480, the processor 444 effects display448 of a graphical user interface (GUI), preferably a set-up menu, viaoutput system onto the display 441. The interaction between GUI displayand user input proceeds by user entering a second input to select one ofa plurality of selectable options in displayed settings menu in GUI.Upon selecting training for speech control navigation among thedisplayed options, the training procedure to construct or modify thedictionary and command associations for voice-activation control of DHCT14 is entered.

Immediately after entering training procedure, either the processor 444or the DSP 945, or both in communication with each other, effect mute oftuned program audio playback by disabling input of module 953 or programaudio decoder 598. The DSP 945 enables audio playback module 953 toreceive audio samples from DSP 945. Thereafter, DSP 945 generatespinknoise audio samples and outputs them to audio playback module 953 toactivate the pinknoise sound through speakers 930. Although pinknoisesound is emitted by the speakers, tuned program audio is not.

Thereafter, a first screen displayed in a GUI on display 441 instructsthe user not to speak and to press a first button, such as “enablemicrophone” button 893, on input device 480 as the signal to initiatetraining procedure. Thus, a start control command is transmitted.Thereafter, encoding of speech signal transmission in input device 480is enabled. Filtering by filter 906 at input device is set with settingsfor band-pass-filtering of pinknoise. Pinknoise is typically a buzzsound with specific audio signal characteristics that facilitatesmeasurement of distance from speaker to DHCT 14. Therefore, the process897 described with reference to FIG. 6 is active. Upon reception andinterpretation of “start” control command, either the processor 444 orthe DSP 945, or both in communication with each other, effect enablingof reception of speech signal in DHCT 14 via the wireless channelreceiver process 925 of FIG. 7. Since pinknoise is emitted by speakers930 and user has been instructed to not speak, received compressed audiosignal at DHCT 14 is decoded by speech decoder 920. The decoded streamoutput by speech decoder 920 comprises of the pinknoise signal emitted.

Generation of pink noise output through speakers 930 is effected withpulses of different durations (that is, an on-state or buzz state),preferably interspersed by intervals of same time duration (that is, anoff-state). Initially, the pinknoise pulse is emitted with a longon-state. In one alternate embodiment, the off-state is transmitted as ano-active speech frame. The processor 444 or DSP 945 employ the timer590 to record time in memory 922 and to measure the time betweenemission and reception of the signal and in this manner the delaybetween audio emission by the DHCT 14 and its return to the DHCT 14 isestimated. The actual delay time estimated varies with the distancebetween the input device 480 and the DHCT 14. Therefore, according toone aspect of the invention the actual distance calculation isirrelevant.

At the end of emission of the initial long pinknoise pulse, the DSP's945 first record of time in memory 922 is effected upon termination.Immediately thereafter, the DSP 945 starts analysis of incoming decodedaudio signal stored in incoming audio buffer in memory 922 to detect theabsence of pinknoise. Upon detecting absence of pinknoise in the decodedaudio signal by detecting a significant reduction in the value of theaudio samples (or similarly by detecting a significant reduction in thesignal's energy), the DSP 945 records a second time in the memory 922.The difference between the second and first recorded times provides asan initial delay estimate incurred between emitted audio via speakers930 and reception of the same audio in DHCT 14.

Thereafter, the DSP 945 effects start and termination of generation ofvaried-length pinknoise pulses 925 and records their respective startand stop times. Likewise, the DSP 945 records the start and terminationof the incoming pinknoise pulses received via receiver pipeline 925.Using the initial delay estimate as a guide to match an incoming pulseto the correspond outgoing pulse, and using knowledge of the uniqueduration of a pulse during this second phase of pinknoise pulseemission, the DSP 945 computes additional delay estimates to refine theoverall delay estimate and tolerance. During this refinement phase, DSP945 matches pulses and computes their start time delay and stop timedelay. The difference in times become estimates of the roundtrip delaybetween DHCT 14 and the remote control device 480. The DSP 945 performsto obtain the average of all roundtrip delay estimates and also computesthe standard deviation among all estimates to be used as tolerance.

Therefore, buffering of program audio as previously described can behoned in on a time-shift delay centered at the estimated averageroundtrip delay with the pinknoise emission training. A small number ofpositive and negative time-shifts from the estimated average roundtripdelay are employed as tolerance values. The tolerance can be based to acertain number of standard deviations away from the average. Theincorporation of tolerance serves to overcome for errors in the delayestimation and to allow for alternate location of the input device 480in the future during regular operation. Hence, the time-shifted versionsof the past program audio stored in circular buffer in the memory 922reflects the calculated delay and error tolerance. In an alternateembodiment, error tolerance in calculated delay is employed forcancellation of room reverberation effects. As a result, significantaudio interference may be separated from the digital speech signalreceived from the remote control device 480. Based on the difference inamplitude between the samples of pinknoise audio received and theirrespective emitted versions stored in the outgoing audio buffer, the DSP945 proceeds to compute an estimate of signal degradation for theoutgoing audio program. An estimate of signal degradation 951 is storedin memory 922 and used during regular operation to assist in processingof the incoming audio signal in audio processing loop 927.

Reminding the user to continue not to speak via displayed GUIpresentation, program audio decode and playback is enabled by activatingthe decoder 598 and playback components 953. Either or both filter 906or filter 933, in input device 480 and DHCT 14, respectively, are set tosettings to filter out ambient noise. The program audio is buffered inoutgoing audio buffer in the memory 922. During this part of thetraining, the estimated delay is employed to compare the transmittedprogram audio with the version that propagated back to DHCT 14. Itshould be noted that the program audio was picked up by the microphone891, encoded and transmitted as described with reference to FIG. 6, thenreceived by wireless channel receiver 925 and decoded by speech decoder920. Each of the components processing the signal induced a certainlevel of degradation. By comparing the samples of the original versionof the program audio with the version decoded by the speech decoder 920,the cumulative degradation on the audio signal can be estimated andstored as an estimate of signal degradation 951. Signal degradation canbe estimated with typical signal to noise calculations as well known indigital signal processing. The signal degradation estimate can then beemployed to assist in the process of processing the incoming audiosignal in the audio processing loop 927. For instance, the signaldegradation estimate can aid in separation of the program audio fromuser speech during regular operation of voice activated control andnavigation of DHCT 14.

During the subsequent phase of the training procedure, without emissionof pinknoise pulses and with program audio muted as explained above, theuser is asked to speak certain words through the presentation of adisplayed GUI. The GUI may present a list of predetermined words beasked to speak any word the user wishes to become voice-activationcommands. Both filtering, at filter 906 of the remote control device 480and filter 933 at DHCT 14, are set to band pass human speech signal. Theuser may be asked to speak the same word multiple times to obtain anaveraged version or different versions of the same word to be stored inthe dictionary 458.

The user may be asked whether user wishes more than one word associatedwith the current voice-activated command being trained. Hence, thetraining procedure allows for a sequence of one or more spoken words tobe associated with a single voice-activated command. The user is thenasked to enter input to select a machine-state (or navigation step)representing an action in DHCT 14 for which the user wishes to associatethe current word (or set of words) for voice-activation command duringregular operation in future. The user may be asked whether user wishesmore than one action or command to be associated with the current word(or set of words) for the voice-activated command being trained. Hence,the training procedure allows for a sequence of one or more actions tobe performed in DHCT 14 to be associated with a voice-activated command.Alternatively, they can be associated with a sequence of one or morespoken words.

For each voice-activated command, an entry is stored in dictionary 458in memory 451. Each dictionary entry comprises of one or more versionsof the user spoken word or set of words to be recognized as thevoice-activated command. Additionally, each dictionary entry has anassociation to one or more actions to be implemented in the DHCT 14 uponinterpretation of a voice-activated command. In an alternate embodiment,the training procedure associates one of multiple dictionaries with eachrespective user from a plurality of users that undergo the trainingprocedure. A user may need to notify the DHCT 14 with a voice-activatedcommand the user's identity. Hence, a user's identity, such as user'sname, is also trained during the training procedure and furtherassociated with one of a plurality of user dictionaries. Alternatively,a user enters user's identity through user input, key strokes on theremote control device 480, by navigating through displayed GUI or menusand a user's dictionary remains effective throughout the future untilchanged.

It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments of thepresent invention, particularly any “preferred embodiments” are merelypossible examples of the implementations, merely set forth for a clearunderstanding of the principles of the invention. Any variations andmodifications may be made to the above-described embodiments of theinvention without departing substantially from the spirit of theprinciples of the invention. All such modifications and variations areintended to be included herein within the scope of the disclosure andpresent invention and protected by the following claims.

Many modifications and other embodiments of the invention will come tomind to one skilled in the art to which this invention pertains havingthe benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions andthe associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that theinvention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed andthat modifications and other embodiments are intended to be includedwithin the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms areemployed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense onlyand not for purposes of limitation.

1. A method of using voice activated commands to instruct electronicequipment to perform one or more functions, comprising: receiving at aremote control device speech representing a user command; digitizing thespeech at the remote control device; compressing the digitized speech;multiplexing the compressed digitized speech with control commands toproduce a data transport stream comprising a control stream and a speechstream; transmitting the data transport stream wirelessly to theelectronic equipment; receiving the data transport stream at theelectronic equipment; demultiplexing the data transport stream toproduce the compressed digitized speech and the control commands;decompressing the compressed digitized speech; and performing at theelectronic equipment a function based upon a stored instructionassociated with the decompressed digitized speech.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein receiving at the remote control device speechrepresenting the user command comprises receiving at a remote controldevice user instructions and unwanted ambient audio, wherein theunwanted ambient audio comprises background noise generated by sourcesother than the electronic equipment, wherein transmitting the compresseddigitized speech wirelessly comprises: transmitting the compresseddigitized speech over a wireless communication channel for digitizedmedia; transmitting the digitized speech via a transmission antenna; andtransmitting the compressed digitized speech over a wireless mediaradio-frequency communication channel, wherein receiving the compresseddigitized speech comprises receiving the compressed digitized speech viaa receiver antenna, wherein the electronic equipment is a digital homecommunication terminal.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprisingcomparing a portion of the decompressed digitized speech to a dictionaryof speech segments, where the dictionary of speech segments ispre-programmed by a user, wherein the comparing the portion of thedecompressed digitized speech to the dictionary of speech segmentsfurther comprises producing a matching score representing the likelihoodof a match between the portion of the decompressed digitized speech anda speech segment in the dictionary of speech segments.
 4. The method ofclaim 2, further comprising: subtracting the unwanted ambient audio fromthe decompressed digitized speech, wherein the step of subtracting theunwanted ambient audio from the decompressed digitized speech occursbefore a portion of the decompressed digitized speech is compared to adictionary of speech segments, wherein the unwanted ambient audiofurther comprises audio generated by the electronic equipment and isemitted by a speaker associated with a television set and corresponds toa program broadcast by a TV station; storing a time-shifted delayversion of the unwanted ambient audio in memory in the electronicequipment, wherein the time-shifted delay version of the unwantedambient audio stored in the memory is matched with the unwanted ambientaudio in the decompressed digitized speech; storing the unwanted ambientaudio generated by the electronic equipment in the memory in theelectronic equipment, wherein the unwanted ambient audio stored in thememory is updated with new unwanted ambient audio as time progresses,and wherein the new unwanted ambient audio comprises television programaudio; identifying a dictionary speech segment associated with a portionof the decompressed digitized speech; assigning a matching score to eachportion of decompressed digitized speech associated with the dictionaryspeech segment; rejecting at least a portion of decompressed digitizedspeech representing a user command when each matching score falls belowa threshold value; requesting a user to repeat the user command;graphically displaying a function associated with the identifieddictionary speech segment; and audibly identifying the functionassociated with the identified dictionary speech segment.
 5. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: querying a user for said speechrepresenting a user command, wherein querying comprises graphicallyrequesting the user for said speech representing a user command, whereinquerying further comprises audibly requesting the user for said speechrepresenting a user command.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein thecontrol stream includes at least one of a start command, a stop command,a standby command, and a no-active-speech-frame command.
 7. The methodof claim 6, wherein the start command followed by the stop commanddemarcates a voice-activated command received while an enable microphonefunction is activated.
 8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:generating the start command upon receiving speech representing the usercommand while an enable microphone function is activated.
 9. The methodof claim 6, further comprising: generating the standby command while nospeech is received.
 10. The method of claim 6, further comprising:determining whether energy of received audio samples at a remote controldevice is below a threshold; and generating the no-active-speech-framecommand while the energy is below the threshold.
 11. The method of claim6, further comprising: detecting, at a remote control device, when theamplitude of each of a plurality of received audio samples is below athreshold; and upon the detecting, generating the no-active-speech-framecommand, the no-active-speech-frame command including a start timecorresponding to the first of the received audio samples that is belowthe threshold.
 12. The method of claim 6, further comprising:determining, at the remote control device, whether the amplitude of eachof a contiguous sequence of received audio samples is above or below athreshold; upon detecting the amplitude is below the threshold,generating the no-active-speech-frame command, theno-active-speech-frame command including a start time corresponding tothe first of the received audio samples that is below the threshold;upon detecting the amplitude is above the threshold, terminating theno-active-speech-frame command.
 13. A remote control apparatus thatreceives voice activated commands comprising: a first microphone; anenable microphone function configured to activate the first microphonesuch that the first microphone can receive inputs; a processorconfigured to digitize inputs received at the first microphone; a speechencoder configured to compress the digitized inputs; a multiplexerconfigured to multiplex the compressed digitized inputs with controlcommands to produce a data transport stream comprising a control streamand a speech stream; and a transmitter configured to wirelessly transmitthe data transport stream to a device associated with the remote controlapparatus.
 14. The remote control apparatus of claim 13, wherein aninput comprises one of a plurality of function keys in combination withone of a plurality of voice commands, wherein one of the plurality ofvoice commands effects control of a television, wherein one of theplurality of voice commands effects control of an electronic programguide, wherein the enable microphone function is in an active state whena user depresses a function key on the remote control apparatus, whereinthe enable microphone function comprises a spring-force level switchthat is placed in an active state when a user depresses the switch,wherein the enable microphone function is a two position on/off switch,and wherein a function key of the plurality of function keys is selectedfrom a group consisting of a toggle switch, a button, and a spring-forcelevel switch.
 15. The remote control apparatus of claim 13, furthercomprising a standby command that identifies when the enable microphonefunction is enabled, wherein the standby command is generatedautonomously by the remote control apparatus, wherein the standbycommand is generated upon detection of the completion of the inputs, andwherein the completion of the inputs is detected by the remote controlapparatus when a level of the inputs falls below a first thresholdvalue.
 16. The remote control apparatus of claim 13, further comprisinga second microphone that is operative to assist in canceling noisereceived by the first microphone, wherein the processor is operative todigitize inputs received by the second microphone.
 17. The remotecontrol apparatus of claim 13, wherein the speech encoder encodes speechreceived at the first microphone when a level of the inputs is above athreshold value established by the processor, and the control commandscomprise a standby command that identifies when the enable microphonefunction is enabled.
 18. A home communication terminal that receivesvoice activated commands and, based upon the voice activated commands,instructs electronic equipment to perform functions, comprising: areceiver that receives a data transport stream comprising a controlstream and a speech stream from a remote device, wherein the speechstream includes encoded digitized signals representing a voice activatedcommand; a demultiplexor that demultiplexes the data transport stream toproduce the encoded digitized signals and control commands; a speechdecoder that decodes the encoded digitized signals; a memory that storesa dictionary of terms derived from voice samples of a user associatedwith the home communication terminal and a portion of the decodeddigitized signals; an audio buffer that stores audio signals broadcastby a device in electrical communication with the receiver; a processorthat eliminates stored audio signals from the decoded digitized signals,such that the resulting decoded digitized signals do not contain audiosignals broadcast by the device in electrical communication with thereceiver; and a comparison component that matches at least a portion ofthe resulting decoded digitized signals to commands representing afunction the home communication terminal is operative to perform. 19.The home communication terminal of claim 18, further comprising: anelectronic program guide (EPG) application controllable by the remotedevice via the voice activated command; and program information storedin the memory and accessible by the EPG application, wherein each termis associated with the voice activated commands representing thefunction that the home communication terminal is operative to perform,wherein each term is associated with a machine state of the EPGapplication.
 20. The home communication terminal of claim 18, furthercomprising a training procedure application, wherein the dictionary ofterms is constructed during a training procedure effected by theprocessor in conjunction with the training procedure application,wherein each term in the dictionary of terms is associated with commandsrepresenting a navigation task that the home communication terminal isoperative to perform, wherein the training procedure applicationaverages multiple versions of signals representing the voice activatedcommand input during the training procedure, wherein the trainingprocedure application stores in the dictionary of terms the multipleversions of the signals representing the voice activated command inputduring the training procedure, wherein each version of the signalsrepresenting the voice activated command input during the trainingprocedure is associated with a television command, wherein each versionof the signals representing the voice activated command input during thetraining procedure is associated with an electronic program guideapplication command, wherein the dictionary of terms is stored in thememory of the home communication terminal, wherein the memory furthercomprises a dictionary of terms, wherein each term is associated withthe commands representing the function that the home communicationterminal is operative to perform, and wherein each term is associatedwith a television function.